A propensity for trouble
by The blue day dream
Summary: She had this tendency to get him into trouble, even when she wasn't aware of it. He ought to stay away from such a troublesome girl, but somehow, he could never bring himself to do so, not even for a short while.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything you recognize**

 **Pairing: Uzumaki Himawari/Nara Shikadai**

 **Rating: T**

 **Summary: She had this tendency to get him into trouble, even when she wasn't aware of it. He ought to stay away from such a troublesome girl, but somehow, he could never bring himself to do so, not even for a short while.**

* * *

 _Nine years old_

It wasn't his fault.

That was what Shikadai had been trying to inform his parents for the last half an hour. How could anyone think that _he_ would willingly spend his energy causing trouble when even thinking of attempting anything was already such a drag? Apparently, the adults standing in front of him did, because they were taking turns yelling at him about how irresponsible he was.

Or at least, his mom was. His dad was just muttering "Troublesome" under his breath while he looked around the room.

What a bother.

"In what world do you think it was okay to let a pack of lemurs into the house?" his mom shouted, her eyes narrowed into slits. Even his dad looked a little scared at the image.

Shikadai wondered if for all the stories of dad proposing to mom, it was mom that had bullied his old man into marrying her. There was a high possibility that that was what had happened.

"Kaa-san, for the last time, I didn't do it. It was Himawari!"

"Now you are blaming a five-year-old girl?"

He let out a long-suffering sigh. There was no winning with his mom.

It was the truth, though. Uzumaki Himawari had been the one behind the lemur invasion of his house. Boruto had dumped his baby-sitting duty onto Shikadai a few hours ago, saying that he had some top secret mission that he couldn't miss out on and he needed Shikadai to watch over his little sister. The Nara boy had protested, naturally, because baby-sitting any kids was a drag, but the blonde had disappeared before he could say anything else.

And so, Shikadai had been forced to spend the afternoon with little Himawari when he could have taken a nap instead.

She hadn't been so bad, at first. She played with her parade of stuffed animals and didn't bother him much. Shikadai had even decided as far as kids went, Himawari was one of the better ones.

Then, when he hadn't been paying attention, she had wandered out into the back garden. There, Himawari had found a baby lemur and had invited him into the house to play with her. Of course, seeing as the lemur was small and its parents had probably been missing it, before long, there had been a whole family of lemurs camped in the backyard, demanding to be let in.

Now, at this point, the logical thing for Shikadai to do would have been to tell Himawari to say goodbye to her new friend and return it to its family. He was four years older than her, and supposed to be a genius. He should have been able to figure out a way to cajole her into doing what was best.

Yet, what actually happened was that the moment he had suggested she let the lemur go, tears had sprung to her eyes and her lips had started to quiver. She had been about to cry. It was the textbook definition of troublesome. Shikadai had reasoned to himself that if he insisted then, she would have been bawling and he would have been in big, big trouble.

That, and the fact that any sort of resolve Shikadai had had splintered away the moment he had been confronted with those blue eyes filled with tears.

So long story short, against his better judgement, he had allowed her to let the lemurs in for a family gathering and his house had descended into chaos.

"I'm not blaming her!" Even if it really was her fault. Her and her big, innocent eyes. "But she was the one that let the lemurs in and I was just-this is so troublesome."

It figured that Boruto had picked his sister up minutes before his parents arrived home and so Shikadai was the only one weathering the storm.

"Well, you should have done a better job of watching over Himawari. You're the older one!"

His mom picked up a thrown pillow…or what was left of it. Her green eyes flashed dangerously at the sight of the ruined fabric and then she said in a carefully controlled voice, "Young man, you are grounded."

Shikadai swore to himself that from now on, he would stay far, far away from Uzumaki Himawari.

* * *

 _Eleven years old_

"Psst, Shika-niichan!"

Shikadai sighed. Maybe if he kept shutting his eyes, she would figure that he was sleeping and would go away.

"Nii-chan! Stop pretending to be asleep!"

He should have known that the girl was too stubborn to give up.

Groaning, he cracked open his eyes and asked in a tired voice. "What is it, Himawari?"

"I need your help."

Well, wasn't this familiar? The last time that she needed his help, he had ended up covered in purple paint that wouldn't completely wash away until a week later.

"Go ask someone else." It was probably a bit too harsh, but he had come to realize that he needed to apply a firm hand where Himawari was concerned. She was too good at getting other people (him) to do what she wanted. He had to put his foot down.

"But you're smart. You always know what to do!" she smiled angelically. "And Boruto-niichan says you are really, really kind and are always ready to help others."

"Boruto said that?" Was that before or after Himawari came to her brother for help and the elder Uzumaki figured that she was too troublesome for him to handle?

Shikadai scowled. The traitor.

"Yep."

"…"

"Please? You _are_ kind, aren't you?"

So much for putting his foot down.

"Fine." He was going to regret this, he knew he was.

And true to his words, he did regret it, when half an hour later, they were being chased by a pack of angry wild cats residing in the forest. Himawari had wanted to heal the injured younglings, but the older ones hadn't taken kindly to their territory being encroached upon and had deemed them a threat.

Really, Shikadai thought, the adults could say whatever they wanted about Boruto being a little delinquent. But as far as he was concerned, it was Himawari that was the true troublemaker of the family.

What a drag.

_o0o_

 _Fifteen years old_

"Oh, hi, Shika-niichan. Are you looking for Boruto-niichan?"

The Chunin scratched his head. "Uh, yeah. Is he home?"

"Nope. Sorry, he just popped out," she gave him an apologetic smile at that. "He said something about a prank, so I figured I shouldn't know too much. Honestly, you'd think that being promoted would make him a bit more mature."

Shikadai couldn't resist an amused grin at her words. Trust Boruto to still keep up with his antics even now.

"Well, do you need me to tell him or give him something?"

"There's this scroll…" he abruptly stopped, his hand still and his shoulders tensed. Himawari gave him a confused look. "You are the only one at home, right?"

"Yes," she answer carefully, alarmed at his sudden change in behavior. "Shika-niichan, is there something wrong?"

"There's a foreign chakra upstairs," he said quietly. "Himawari, go while I check it out."

Indignation rushed to her face at his command. He should have known that she wouldn't take kindly to being told to flee. "No way! This is _my_ home and I am not leaving you behind to deal with whoever that is."

"Don't be troublesome!" he hissed. Why couldn't she just listen to him? "The person upstairs is probably after you. If you leave right now, then their plan will fail. Besides, you've yet to graduate. You'll just be a liability _." Because I would be too distracted protecting you_ , but she didn't need to know that.

"I'm not leaving."

Shikadai almost let out a string of curses, which was rather out of character for him. He rarely, if ever, lost his temper. But then again, there weren't many people that could get under his skin as fast as Uzumaki Himawari did.

Taking in a deep, measured breath, he reminded himself to keep his composure. Losing his head right now could endanger the both of them.

"Someone has to inform the Hokage about this," he reasoned, hoping that this last piece of logic would finally make Himawari see sense.

It didn't.

She merely gave him an irritated look as she made the hand signs to create a shadow clone. The clone was immediately dispatched in the direction of the Hokage tower with the order to inform her father about what was going on.

"Can we stop wasting time now?" She must have caught the look of defeat that had flashed across his face, for there was a hint of smugness in her words.

He glared at her, jaws clenched. Even Boruto wasn't this stubborn and…troublesome. Shikadai could already envision his funeral, for the Hokage would surely flay him alive and feed his bones to the dogs for this. But then again, uncle Naruto was her father. He would understand just how impossible it was to dissuade Himawari from something she had set her mind on, wouldn't he?

"Fine. But you have to follow my orders. Do everything I tell you to do, no talking back, no questioning my words, understood?"

She nodded vigorously.

"And stay behind me at all times."

"Oh, move it, you old geezer!"

So, in a formation of two, they approached the stairs, Shikadai in the front with his fingers ready for the shadow binding techniques and Himawari close behind him, kunai in hand. They were both on alert for even the smallest of movements and the faintest of sound. His mind was racing to calculate what he should do to handle the situation so that they could apprehend the trespasser and he could ensure that no harm would come to the girl behind him.

Everything went according to plan at first. He managed to trap the assailant with his jutsu and was about to knock him unconscious when a second one suddenly appeared behind them, sword raised to strike Himawari. He only managed to figure out that she wouldn't be able to deflect the blow, but he would be fast enough to jump in front of her.

And then he wasn't really thinking anymore. His body moved on its own accord and the next thing he knew, he had taken the sword that was meant for Himawari and there was just a lot of blood pouring out that was probably his.

A flash of yellow and orange appeared in his line of vision. Shikadai let his body relaxed as he crumbled to the floor. Someone was crying his name, but it was getting awfully hard for him to register anything else.

The last thought on his mind before darkness descended over him was that yet again, Himawari had managed to drag him into some sort of trouble without even trying.

* * *

 _Seventeen years old_

Shikadai had not expected to see Himawari standing outside the gate of the Nara compound when he returned from his mission. They hadn't been talking much in the past couple of months, not since her promotion and his increase in missions. He wondered if becoming Chunin had changed her in some fundamental ways, because he doubted he had ever seen her shuffling her feet and moving around in such an anxious manner before.

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

Shikadai frowned. The thirteen-year-old jumped at the sound of his voice. It was as if she hadn't even noticed that he was there. "Oh, hi…uh, Shikadai."

That was decidedly abnormal for Himawari. He felt like he should brace himself for a prank of some sort that would be sprung upon him any moments now, right when he let his guard down.

"Are you looking for me?" he prompted. Then he noticed she had both of her hands clasped behind her back like she was holding something that she didn't want him to see. "Do you want to give me something?"

Then, much to his bewilderment, a furious flush blossomed across her cheeks. He blinked, unable to believe his eyes.

Stubborn, brazen Uzumaki Himawari was _blushing_?

But for what?

"Himawari, are you feeling okay?" he asked in concern and took a few steps closer to easier check up on her. When she noticed what he was doing, she immediately scurried backwards like he was carrying a contagious disease. There was a scowl on her face, though her blush was still intact.

"Stay where you are!" she snapped.

He held up his hands in a movement to placate her. "Alright, alright. Now will you please tell me what is going on?"

"What date is it?"

"February 14th," he answered automatically. It was only thanks to years of dealing with Himawari's unpredictability that he could manage to keep up with the randomness in the conversations that they had. "Why do you ask?"

She gnawed on her bottom lips and looked away, appearing to be in deep contemplation about something. He distinctly caught a faint grumble of "Idiot!", but then he couldn't be too sure. He could never be sure of anything when it concerned this girl.

"Now or never," she muttered, more to herself than to him. Then, in a movement faster than even the Hokage, she thrusted… _something_ into his hands and said in one breath, "Thisisforyou!"

And she was gone.

Shikadai stood rooted to his spot, long after she had disappeared, wondering what the hell had just happened.

"Is this…a gift?" he mused to himself, looking down at the carefully wrapped box in his hands. It was yellow in color and wrapped in bright blue ribbons, both of which were Himawari's favorite colors. Unable to overcome his curiosity, the Nara pried open the lid, to find a dozen of truffles inside, all dark and shining and identical to one another.

Chocolate.

Then, it clicked. Why she had given him this. Why she had asked him for the date. Why she had been acting so out of character.

Shikadai groaned, burying his face into his hand, his ears red. He should just be disowned from his clan for the sheer amount of stupidity he had just displayed.

He had never suspected it, never thought that there would even be a _possibility_ that something like this would happen. She was four years younger and the little sister of his best friend.

She was…well, Himawari, who was too troublesome for her own good.

Why she would even…

What a drag!

Sighing, Shikadai turned his face towards the sky, wondering what he should do about this. It wasn't the first time that he had been confronted with someone else's feelings for him. He had had girlfriends before (one) and he had gone out on a couple of dates (twice). Yet, this time, his mind failed to provide him with a viable plan to deal with this situation.

There was just nothing.

In the end, he decided to file it away for further contemplation. Maybe after a shower and a warm meal, he would be able to figure out something that would be the best for the both of them. He didn't want to hurt Himawari, but he didn't want to give her any encouragement, either. Stringing her along was cruel. Just the thought of it alone was distasteful enough to make a grimace appear on his face.

Shikadai eyed the box in his hand one more time and thought that he was rather curious about the taste. He wasn't overly fond of sweets, but there was just something interesting about the thought of Himawari making anything as delicate as these that made him want to try them.

So, he popped one of the truffles into his mouth, closed the lid and headed inside his family compound.

He was in the hospital because of food poisoning for an entire week.

* * *

 _Eighteen years old_

Uzumaki Himawari had no shortage of admirers. This Shikadai knew for a fact.

Not that he spent his free time keeping track of how many boys fell for her, because that was just _wrong_ (and creepy) on so many levels. In all honesty, Shikadai felt that he would be much better off not knowing at all, seeing as it wasn't really his business and it just sounded like a drag.

But he didn't have a choice. Because Himawari made no secret of her crush on him and thus, he was the one her admirers sought out first, either to check out the competition or to ask if it was fine for them to pursue her. He couldn't remember the number of times he had to assure someone that no, he was definitely not a competition, and no, Himawari was only like a sister to him or really, he was not the person to ask.

Shikadai couldn't help but feel bemused by the whole ordeal, not least because it was entirely too troublesome for his liking. If these boys actually liked Himawari, then shouldn't _she_ be the one that they talk to and ask for opinions? Nothing he said should matter because he was Nara Shikdai, not Uzumaki Himawari.

Then there was the problem with her father and brother.

He knew that he wasn't imagining things when the first few weeks after it was made known to (probably) the entire village that Uzumaki Himawari had a bit of a crush on Nara Shikadai, the Hokage's eyes on him were colder than what should be acceptable. Shikdai made no mention of it, just in case he was imagining things and saying anything would just put ideas in Lord Hokage's head.

Eventually, the Hokage broke the silence.

"Shikdai, please remain after the debriefing. I have a few things I need to discuss with you."

He almost gulped. Almost. It was a reasonable reaction when confronted with a war hero who could crush him in three seconds (or less) if he ever felt like it. Never mind the fact that Shikadai had grown up calling this man Uncle Naruto.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Inojin and ChouChou sent him pitying looks. Well, Inojin did. ChouChou just smirked and secretly threw him a mock salute as she exited, like she would never see him alive and breathing again.

He wasn't amused.

"Alright, Shikadai," Naruto started once they were alone. His eyes _were_ cold. "I will cut to the chase. What is your intention with my fourteen-year-old daughter? I advice you to answer this question very carefully."

"Hokage-sama," Shikadai paused, considering how he should address this man. They were discussing private matters concerning his daughter, not something shinobi-related. "Uncle Naruto, I am aware that you know of Himawari's...ah, feelings for me."

There was a flash of amusement in Naruto's eyes. "She is rather vocal about it, yes."

"If you are worried that I'm going to," Shikdai frowned at his next words, "take advantage of her, then you don't have to. She's like a little sister to me."

There was a long stretch of silence after Shikadai was finished, before Naruto visibly relaxed and his mouth curled up into a grin.

"Of course. I have known you since you were a kid," Naruto chuckled at that." You probably think I'm being silly, but Himawari's my daughter and I couldn't help but worry when I heard. She's still young and I'm afraid that she has taken too much after me instead of my wife."

"I don't think that's a bad thing," Shikadai replied earnestly. He had recognized that while Boruto was the one who was often mistaken for the Hokage in appearance, it was Himawari who was more similar to her father in personality.

Especially her ability to attrack trouble and drag other people along. Like him.

"Well, in any case, thanks for humoring me. You can go now, Shikadai."

His "meeting" with Boruto wasn't as amiable.

The unfortunate thing about the guy Shikadai called his best friend was that Boruto kept himself up-to-date with the gossips circulating around the village and had the tendency to believe them. And since gossip often exaggerated, it meant that what was once an innocent crush was turned into a sordid affair between a fourteen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old, with Shikadai being the one to seduce Himawari.

It never failed to amaze him how people manage to twist the truth into something that sounded entirely too unlikely to be possible.

Boruto, being the overprotective brother that he was, immediately sought out Shikadai. Now, the Nara would have been fine if they just had a normal conversation like two adults in which he pointed out how ridiculous the rumor was and how Himawari was like a kid sister to him.

But he should have known that this was Boruto he was dealing with and the guy tended to act first, then ask question later. So, instead of the mature discussion Shikadai had envisioned, what actually happened was that he got punched in the face for a crime he did not commit and his nose was broken. It took a lot of yelling and Sarada threatening to throw Boruto from the tallest building in Konoha to finally resolve the 'misunderstanding'.

Still, the whole ordeal made Shikadai wondered why he had ever bothered to associate himself with the Uzumaki siblings in the first place.

* * *

 _Nineteen years old_

When words had gotten to him that his girlfriend was challenged challenged to a fight to the death by none other than _Uzumaki Himawari_ , it had taken him several moments to understand what was going on.

Himawari was fighting? With his girlfriend?

What the _fuck_ was going on?

Shikadai wasn't sure what had surprised him more, the fact that Himawari had thought to pick a bone with his girlfriend, or the fact that Miharu had decided to take on the Uzumaki. Probably the latter, because it wasn't hard to imagine Himawari getting worked up and starting a brawl (not that she had ever actually done it. Until now).

Miharu was calm and level-headed, and always thought things through before acting on them. He had never once seen her losing her temper, which he thought was the best quality about her. To think that she was fighting with Himawari…

When Boruto…no, his clone had appeared at his apartment with the news, Shikadai had had half a mind to let them work things out on their own and not get involved. Miharu was very, very handy with wires and senbons. Himawari, while a Chuunin and a head shorter than him, was a lethal combination of gentle fist and fuinjutsu. He was smart enough to know that he did not want to get tangled up in whatever issue that they had with one another.

But it was highly likely that that issue involved him. Which just took troublesome to a whole other level.

And Miharu _was_ his girlfriend, after all.

Shikadai groaned. He did not sign up for this.

So he followed Boruto's clone to training ground number three, where a small crowd had gathered at the edge. A crowd that consisted of most of his friends, along with Himawari's teammates and a dozen of Boruto's clones who were arguing among themselves over some sort of seal.

Apparently, Himawari had set up a barrier around the field to keep out any unwanted visitors. A barrier that Boruto had been trying to take down for the last fifteen minutes.

All eyes were on him as he appeared with varying degrees of amusement. They all thought this whole thing was more interesting than prime time soap opera, which was nice of them.

"Alright, so anyone care to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Several people answered all at once. Shikadai could sense an oncoming headache. He decided that after this was over, he would move to Suna. His uncles would welcome him. Then he could live a peaceful life away from the troublesome girl that was Uzumaki Himawari.

"One at a time! I can't understand anything when you people are all speaking like that!" he snapped.

"Well, all we know is that Hima-chan had an argument with Miharu-san and they decided to take it to the training field to work things out. We can't really see anything from here, though, and we can't get in," Sarada was the one who spoke up and she seemed to be having a hard time keeping a straight face. "Boruto's trying to reverse the seal, but I wouldn't count on it."

"Hey! A little faith would be nice. I almost got it."

So it wasn't a battle to the death. His best friend's tendency to exaggerate was bordering on the ridiculous these days.

"Do you know _why_ they are like this?"

Shikadai had deducted that it had something to do with him. But what? Miharu and Himawari hadn't exactly been friends, but that didn't mean they would just randomly pick fights with one another.

"You don't know?" Inojin questioned, scrunching up his face. "I figure that they are fighting about _you."_

Several of his friends snickered.

Shikadai felt his face heat up. He had never wanted to have anyone fight over him, but apparently, it had happened to him anyway. Was it a curse for all Nara men that they would always get the exact opposite of what they wanted?

If that was the case, then he had to wonder what his ancestors had done to anger the gods up above.

"Come to think of it," one of Himawari's teammate spoke up, the Inuzuka. "Hima-chan has been rather moody lately, hasn't she, Hitoshi?"

"Hm, yeah."

"Yes! I got it! Finally!" Boruto exclaimed loudly as he punched his fist in the air, looking pleased. The air around the training field shimmered for a moment as the barrier came down.

Shikadai detected them easily enough. Neither had bothered to mask their chakra. The sight that greeted him was them standing a few feet away from each other, facing one another as they panted heavily. There was a small, tiny part inside his mind that was impressed that Himawari had managed to hold herself against Miharu, who was a Jounin.

But that part paled in comparison to the sudden surge of anger as his eyes took in the sight of the bruises on Miharu's skin. It was clear that this was no 'Gentle fist technique', but rather a full-on fist fight. Himawari was worse off than his girlfriend, but she had been the one to initiate this, hadn't she?

"Miharu!"

Two pairs of eyes snapped towards him in surprise. Himawari opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Shikadai paid her no mind as he approached Miharu. He didn't trust himself to say anything that he might not regret later on.

"Are you alright?" he asked. It was a redundant question, of course. He could clearly see that she was not alright.

There were movements behind him. Shikadai was aware that someone had approached Himawari. Probably Boruto and her teammates.

"I'm fine, Shika. Don't worry."

"What happened? Why," he scowled, "did you and Himawari…"

"I don't know, Shika. She just suddenly came at me and started shouting! Then she attacked me and I…I kept asking her why, but she-"

"You lying _bitch_!" Himawari snarled from where she was standing, sounding enrage, "You know exactly-"

"-Hima-chan!" Boruto exclaimed.

"-what happened. Don't you dare-"

" _Enough!_ " Shikadai shouted, effectively silencing everyone present. His head was pounding and he was sick and tired of Himawari's antics. He didn't care if the girl had a crush on him; that gave her no right to start attacking his girlfriend out of nowhere and then calling her names. She was fifteen, for Kami's sake, not a child anymore. She needed to act her age and think with her head.

He turned the full force of his glare onto her, yet her defiant gaze did not falter. If anything, her blue eyes seemed to steel over as she stared back at him, challenging him silently.

"Himawari, what makes you think it was okay to attack Miharu out of nowhere?"

"Out of nowhere…ha!" she let out a derisive snort. "It was _not_ out of nowhere! Just ask her!"

"Ask me what? I don't know what you are talking about!" Miharu exclaimed.

"You sicken me-"

"Why don't you tell us then, Himawari?" Shikadai cut her off, fast running out of patience. "What is it that Miharu had done that makes you behave like this?"

Himawari pursed her lips, her eyes turned into slits. Pure anger radiated from her.

"You know what, Shikadai, you wouldn't believe me even if I tell you," she said, with a degree of coldness he had never thought her capable of. "You are so _blind_ sometimes, I don't know why I even-"

That was when the last shred of his self-restraint snapped.

"Even what? Like me? Is that what you want to say? It's not like I ask for it!"

"How dare you-"

"Stay out of this, Boruto," he snapped at the blond, before turning back to Himawari. She stood frozen to her spot, the hurt naked on her face. She looked like he had just struck her.

He might as well have. He was going to regret this, he knew, but he couldn't stop the words from tumbling out.

"I've never once wanted you to like me in that way. You are so… _troublesome_. And then you go and do things like this. How can you claim to like me so much and yet not considering how I might feel?"

Silence. Himawari stared at him, eyes wide. All the anger and challenge seemed to have been drained from her body and as she stood there, she appeared to be folding into herself, getting smaller and smaller.

"I…I see," she finally croaked out. "So that's…that's how you feel…"

And then without warning, she turned and disappeared into the trees. Boruto let out a curse, threw a glare in his direction before chasing after her, her teammates mimicking his movement. Shikadai was left with the feeling that he had just destroyed whatever bond he might share with Himawari.

But she…she had started this, wasn't she? She was the one attacking his girlfriend for no reason at all.

As it turned out, it wasn't for no reason, for a week later, he discovered that Miharu had been cheating on him with some guy for weeks. Yet somehow, Shikadai couldn't bring himself to be angry, for all he could feel was regret at what he had done.

He was blind, indeed. And he had screwed up big time.

"Well, for a supposed genius, you are rather slow, aren't you? Go apologize to my sister, you bastard!"

* * *

 _Twenty years old_

Shikadai knew it was probably rather unfair of him, but he had come to associate Himawari waiting for him on his door step with surprises that would gave him headaches for days later.

She seemed different from when she nervously stood outside the Nara compound, mustering up the courage to give him the chocolate (his stomach tingled just a tiny bit at the thought). The girl leaned against the wall of his apartment, feet tapping noiselessly on the tiled floor, hands in the pocket of her skirt. She looked calm and…was she taller from the last time he saw her?

It was not unlikely. Shikadai got the feeling that Himawari had been actively avoiding him for the past few months, and he had to say that he was not surprised considering the way he had treated her. He had apologized for his behavior, and she had accepted it, but since then, there had been some sort of barrier between them.

Shikadai would be lying if he said he was not bothered by it. Despite the gap in their age (and her troublesome tendency), he had come to regard Himawari as a friend. She challenged him, in a way. At some point, he had found himself going along with her antics, not because he didn't care to protest, but because he was curious about what she was up to. She added a bright, upbeat note to his life that Shikadai had never thought he would enjoy - for bright, upbeat people were usually troublesome by nature.

Then he acted without thinking and ended up driving her away. Shikadai only had himself to blame when Himawari decided to draw back and protect herself.

"Himawari."

"Shikadai!" she grinned as her eyes fell upon him. He wondered if he had imagined the note of resignation in that grin. "I've been waiting for you."

"Yeah? Do you need something?" Shikadai asked, pulling out his keys to unlock the door. "Do you want to come in?"

She shook her head, long strands of dark blue hair shimmering under the dim light in the hallway.

Wait, did he just think that her hair was _shimmering_? Clearly, he needed to stop letting ChouChou bullied him and Inojin into watching all those romance movies with her.

"It's alright. This is not going to take long." Himawari took in a deep breath, before continuing, "I'm leaving for a mission tomorrow, a really long one. I probably won't be back in the village for some months at least, so I figure that I should tell you this before I go."

Shikadai raised his brows. She was leaving for a long-term mission? Wasn't she only a Chuunin still? Normally, those type of assignments would be given to Jounins or ANBUs.

And what was it that she felt that she had to tell him before she left?

Still, Shikadai did not interrupt her. She would continue without any further prompting from him anyway.

"I…I just want to tell you that…uhm, my feelings for you," her face was steadily turning redder, and even now, he still had a hard time connecting this blushing, flustered Himawari to the one that had challenged his ex-girlfriend to a fist fight, "that is, what I meant to say is…I no longer like you anymore."

Shikadai blinked. To say that her confession was unexpected was a gross understatement.

What was it about this girl that she could always surprise him at every turn? Shikadai had always prided himself on being able to plan ahead and be prepared; yet with Uzumaki Himawari, that never seemed to work. She was an e _xpert_ at making him felt like a fish out of water, something that not many could claim to do. In fact, only his parents….

She was looking at him expectantly. How should he answer to that? He had spent the last two years of his life having her chase after him and now here she was, telling him that her feelings had dried up. What would he say, 'that's good to know', or 'thank you for telling me'?

If she wanted a reaction out of him right at this moment, she would be sorely disappointed. Shikadai had no idea what he should do.

"Uhm, Shikadai, are you alright? You haven't said anything…"

"Ah, well, it's quite…unexpected," he murmured, scratching his head.

Himawari grimaced slightly, looking away. "Sorry about that. I have been thinking about this for quite some months now, ever since…anyway, I kept putting it off and you probably noticed I have been avoiding you as well. It's not that you are a bad person or anything, Shikadai. I quite like you actually, just not in that way anymore."

"It's alright, Himawari. You don't owe me anything, you know," he assured her. "Thank you for…ah, telling me about it."

"We can still be friends, right?" she gave him a smile as she asked.

A warm feeling blossomed in his chest. Shikadai was oddly pleased at her request, more so than he would like to admit aloud.

"Do friends always give each other chocolate on Valentine's and ask the other on dates?" he couldn't resist teasing her.

She glared at him, but the effect was dampened by the still-present flush on her face. "That's…that's in the past!"

"Yes, yes, of course. My bad," he laughed, the sound echoing through the empty hallway. Then he remembered something she had said and decided to ask, "So you are leaving on a long-term mission? What is it about, or is it classified?"

"Please, I don't think my dad would let me go on a classified mission that would last for two years at this point," Himawari snorted, before her lips curling up into a smile. "Me and my team are being sent out to track down members of the Uzumaki clan that had become refugees after Uzushiogakure was destroyed. Dad wants to reestablish our clan here and…well, you know, it would be nice if we have more than four people."

Interesting. Shikadai recalled a few times that Boruto had told him about how his dad wanted a big family. Maybe this was the Hokage's way of making that happen.

"Anyway, it's getting late. I shouldn't keep you out here any longer. I'll see you, Shikadai," she waved at him.

"Yeah," he nodded.

And then, acting on impulse, he reached out and drew her into a hug. Her body went rigid in his arms and for a few seconds, she stood still, her hands hung limply at her side. Shikadai resisted the urge to tell her that for a hug to work, she needed to response. Instead, he let her go and backed away, trying not to dwell on the thought that he had liked the way she felt in his arm more than what was appropriate.

"Uhm, that's…"

Shikadai cleared his throat several times. "That's a goodbye. Be safe on your mission, Himawari, and good luck."

Hours later, as he laid alone in his bed, unable to close his eyes, he told himself that the heaviness in his stomach was only because he wouldn't be able to see his friend for a long time.

* * *

 _Twenty-one years old_

A year and a half went by before Shikadai saw her again. In that time, she and her team had come back to visit Konoga twice. Both times, he had been away on missions (and if he was annoyed by such ill-timing, he told himself it was only because he had missed her like any good friend would). Boruto filled the time in between lamenting about how long his little sister was taking travelling all over the world.

Shikadai merely nodded along with his friend, because talking would only give way to the troublesome feelings that he had been ignoring. He didn't want to admit to anyone that Konoha felt to him like it was missing something important these days, apprehensive of the implications such a thought might have.

Lying to himself was a drag, but being honest with himself was even worse.

He distracted himself by focusing on missions and working with the drug development team at the hospital. He was good at bio-chemistry and quite knowledgeable about the medicine that his clan had developed since ancient time. The team had been surprised when he approached them, for who could really believe that a Nara (and son of Shikamaru at that) would willingly take on more work than what was absolutely necessary.

Yet, even in the lab, Shikadai could not completely escape the growing dissent inside his mind, for it had been Himawari who had first got him thinking about going down this line of work.

That girl, still giving him headaches when she was nowhere to be seen.

Then he was sent on this mission to accompany a team of Genin as they went to Waterfall to escort a group of Uzumakis back to Konoha safely. These were among the people Himawari and her team had been tracking down as part of their mission. Once they reached Konoha, they would receive official citizen status and would form the new Uzumaki clan. Baby-sitting Genins might be a drag, but Shikadai was happy to help the Hokage and his family revive their clan.

And part of his motivation might also stemmed from the fact that she would be there and he would get to see her again.

"Shikadai-sensei, I think I can see them already!" one of the Genin gushed excitedly.

A sigh escaped his lips. "I told you to call me Shikadai-san. I'm no one's sensei."

Never, if he could help it. He could never muster up enough energy to deal with moody, loud, troublesome pre-teens on a daily basis.

The other Genins ignored him. One of them started rattling off information about the Uzumaki Clan and saying how cool it would be if she got to learn fuinjutsu from the masters. One minute later, they landed in the clearing where ten people gathered, three of them Konoha shinobis.

As if on instinct, Shikadai's eyes sought out dark blue hair and bright blue eyes among the group. His heart beat just a tiny bit faster at the sight of her, talking with one of the Uzumakis with a relaxed smile on her face. She looked the same, yet different in a way that was visible to the naked eyes. Her hair was longer, her skin tanner and a certain sort of hardness stemming from months on the road seemed to cling to her.

A thought surfaced in his mind. Himawari had never looked more beautiful to him.

"Shikadai?" she exclaimed, once her eyes landed on him. Surprise crossed her face, closely followed by delight and a bright smile. "I…It's so nice to see you. Are you here with the escort team."

He nodded mechanically. Damnit, of all the times for his voice to fail him.

"He's our new sensei for the mission, Uzumaki-san!" one of the Genins pipped up.

"Oh, that's nice."

And then she was coming closer to him and pulling him into a hug. This time, Shikadai was the one stood rigid (and probably making a fool of himself), because he was frozen with the thought that he was in so much trouble.

Why did the Gods hate Nara men?

 _Fin__


End file.
